


...And the Team as Family

by GrumpyJenn



Category: The Librarians (TV 2014)
Genre: Misunderstandings, Team as Family, Trust Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-21
Updated: 2015-02-21
Packaged: 2018-03-14 08:31:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3403922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GrumpyJenn/pseuds/GrumpyJenn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Possible predecessor to ...And the Doctor (http://archiveofourown.org/works/3222455), based on a remark in that piece about how trust is not yet automatic.</p><p>Very very light suggestions of future Jassandra, if you squint.</p>
            </blockquote>





	...And the Team as Family

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AnagramRMX](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnagramRMX/gifts), [justlook3](https://archiveofourown.org/users/justlook3/gifts), [AerynB](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AerynB/gifts).



“Why would I care what you do with her?” Jake tried to keep his tone cool and unconcerned, because Cassie’s life probably depended on it. “She’s useless to me; she either goes into a trance or she just stands there, helpless. So go ahead. Take her off my hands. Hell, kill ‘er.”

He took advantage of the bad guy’s glace down at the captive Cassie – the asshole had a knife to her throat – to throw her a wink. And he was taken completely by surprise when suddenly the knife wasn’t pressed against her skin anymore; it had clattered to the floor when Cassie’s elbow connected with the guy’s gut, and then Jake took him the rest of the way down and out.

“You okay?” It was a quiet question, and Cassie didn’t answer. But she looked calm except that her face was a bright red; she wasn’t going into one of her spells and she wasn’t crying or anything, so she must be all right. He left it alone until they were done trussing her assailant up in a corner of the room they were stuck in, and then he tried again. Taking her hand, he pulled her around a corner created by the furniture in the room. “Cassie. You okay?”

“Am I okay? I suppose I am…” She trailed off and launched herself at him.

Jake was prepared to catch her.

He was not prepared for the fist to the face.

“What the hell, Cass!” It wasn’t really a question, and when he saw the look on her face – she looked sick and scared and appalled at her own temerity – Jake forced himself to calm down. Cassie wouldn’t hit him just for kicks, so there must be something wrong; she was under the influence of an artifact or something. And it wasn't like he'd hit her back; he'd never...

But who knew such a little thing could pack such a punch?

“Cass?” Jake tried to stay calm and to keep his voice the same way. “Darlin’, you okay?” Shit, now her lower lip was quivering and she was obviously struggling not to cry, so Jake tried to hug her.

She shoved him away, hard, and he let her do it. “I thought you m- _meant_ it,” she said in a horrified whisper, eyes filling.

“Meant _what_?” Now Jake was getting exasperated, because she wasn’t making any _sense_.

“That you didn’t care what he did with me!” Cassie shouted at him. “Even if he k-killed me!”

Jake was absolutely floored. “Come on, Cass, you know better than that,” he said, trying to placate her. “I was trying to convince _him_ , not _you_!”

“How was I supposed to _know_ that?” She positively shrieked that one, and Jake winced.

“We are a team, Cassandra,” he said deliberately, struggling to keep his tone reasonable and the country out of it, “You are supposed to _trust_ me.”

“Like you do me?”

She said it in a quiet and utterly devastated tone that matched the look in the huge blue eyes, and disappeared around the corner.

And Jake found himself standing there, wondering what the hell had just happened.

~^~ 

“Math Girl, I found you! Where’s Stone?”

Jake heard rather than saw Ezekiel burst through the door of the room, heard indistinct murmurs, and he got a firm grip on his emotions before he rounded the corner to face the younger man. He still wasn’t sure what had happened to make Cassie so upset, and he desperately wanted some regrouping time.

Part of him wished that Zeke hadn’t found them just then, because he and Cassie needed to talk, and Zeke’s smartass little mouth was likely to complicate the situation.

Zeke was crouched by the baddie in the corner though, and when that asshole woke up and started to swear at them all in some language that even Jake didn’t know, Zeke cheerfully produced a roll of duct tape and shut the man up. _Maybe he didn’t notice whatever’s wrong with Cassie,_ Jake thought hopefully _, and maybe we can still work this out without his input_.

No such luck.

Because Zeke got up from his crouch and – the word that occurred to Jake was _stalked_ – stalked toward Jake. If it hadn’t been for the uncharacteristically serious look on Zeke’s face, Jake might have laughed.

But the expression wasn’t funny, and Jake found himself swallowing hard around the lump that had appeared in his throat. These two counted on him; he was the brains of the operation for some of it, and the muscle for all of it and… and he’d – somehow he’d hurt at least Cassie. If Zeke was like this too, then he needed to fix this right away, with both of them. They’d never survive on their own, and if they didn’t trust him to help…

“What the hell did you do to her, mate?” Zeke’s voice was quiet, and almost scary, which from Zeke was scary in and of itself.

Jake took a deep breath and looked Zeke in the face. “I scared her,” he said simply. “I didn’t mean to, and I’m sorry for it.” He swallowed hard again and turned to Cassie. “I didn’t mean it, Cassie; I wouldn’t… I _couldn’t_ … I…” _I wouldn’t hurt you – either of you – for the world_.

“It doesn’t matter,” Cassie said in a numb sort of voice, and she refused to make eye contact.

But Zeke wasn’t going to let that stand; he was feeling belligerent and he had a target in Jake. “It matters, Cassie!” He shrank in on himself a little when Jake rounded on him. “Well, it does,” he said, but he backed down.

“Thanks for your support, Zeke,” Cassie said, not looking at him. _Now_ she was looking at Jake, their eyes locked, and some small part of him marveled that sweet and soft Cassie could have such a steely look in her eye. “I can manage from here. Why don’t you take our… guest… with you when you leave.”

It was a dismissal, and Zeke took it as such, dragging their captive behind him as he left. At the doorway he turned. “Don’t hurt her again, Stone. I mean it. Just… just don’t.”

 _I didn’t mean to hurt her the first time,_ Jake thought, and it was only when he turned and saw the look on Cassie’s face that he realized he’d said it aloud.

“I didn’t, Cassie. I wouldn’t hurt you. Not—“

“Not intentionally. I know.”

“Then why are you…?” Jake trailed off; he didn’t know how to put this.

And she turned the question back on him. “Why don’t you trust me, Jake?” Her voice was even, but her eyes were sad, so sad.

“You know why.”

Cassie shook her head. “Doesn’t wash. You aren’t a hard and unforgiving man, Jake, and we know each other better than we did then. Flynn forgave me and he was the only person hurt by it. Why can’t you?”

Jake had to allow that it was a good question.

Because she was right. He wasn’t an unforgiving man. And she already knew the secret he didn’t trust his family with; he couldn’t take that back. So why was he so dead set on not trusting her? She just stood there waiting and looking at him, her face as expressionless as she could manage, but her _eyes_ … Jake could practically feel the hurt radiating from them; she couldn’t keep the emotion out of those bottomless wells of blue.

“I can try,” Jake said slowly, and her whole bearing relaxed; he realized just how very tense she had been, waiting for an answer.

Cassie flashed him a smile, and Jake relaxed too. It was going to be okay. “I’d like that,” she said almost shyly.

“I can’t prom—“

“I know. But you’ll _try_.”

“I’ll try,” Jake confirmed, and then grinned at her. “Don’t let Jones beat me up.”

She pouted at him, then smiled again. “He was worried about me.”

“Of course he was; he cares about you.”

“Yeah, well. I always wanted a brother,” she said, and this time when she flew at him it was to hug him. Jake let his arms close around her shoulders and buried his face in her hair. He’d almost lost her friendship, her trust, and not because of some horrible crime but just because he was a stubborn jerk.

He was pretty sure he wouldn’t be able to stand it if that happened, so he just held on tight.

And if she heard the sigh of relief or felt the accompanying shudder, she never mentioned it.


End file.
